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Well I fell victim to the job layoffs our country is going through and in Jan.09 I became unemployed and lost my health insurance in the process. I just start working in Sept.09 and finally after never missing a day of taking my meds in 4 years, I went to my doctor to restart my med. treatment. Of course he's ordered a TON of test and HIV drug resistant testing. He says it could go either way and it doesn't mean I'm resistant to Atripla. So in the mean time he has me taking Atripla until he gets the results back in a few days.

The way in which one stops taking meds can have an effect, i.e. depending on the half-life of the meds one is taking, if you stop all at the same time or stop one first, then another etc. I'm not sure with Atripla if the half-life varies among the three different components. If so, it could lead to what is essentially monotherapy for a few days and possible resistance. But it's not guaranteed, you won't know until the resistance test results are back.

Please keep us posted on the outcome. And if you are resistant, there should be other options.

I may be in a similar situation with insurance and I was wondering: how did it work as far as your new coverage? Did you basically get a new job with coverage and now you are covered? Did they count any time out of your lapse in coverage for pre-existing condition? I guess you did not do COBRA?

Chances are good that you are not resistant, but the best way to tell is by the tests (a worse way to tell is just to start without tests and sit there waiting and hoping).

Resistance is most common when you are taking a drug inconsistently, so that the virus keeps reproducing (thereby getting a chance to mutate) and mutations that resist that drug give a survival advantage. A one time stop and start isn't great, but it isn't as dangerous as inconsistent adherence (which is basically starting and stopping a lot of times).

I may be in a similar situation with insurance and I was wondering: how did it work as far as your new coverage? Did you basically get a new job with coverage and now you are covered? Did they count any time out of your lapse in coverage for pre-existing condition? I guess you did not do COBRA?

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I couldn't afford the COBRA coverage at $550 a month! My job had an awesome plan...Hence the reason americans NEED a public health option. They did not count any time with my lapse in coverage. Pretty much with large corporate plans, the insurance companies cover you as not to cause back lash from the company that is employing you, so it's not a problem for me. So yes I got new coverage with my job and I moved to a larger city whose health department will pay 100% should I loose coverage again.

Yes my doctor knew, he did have a bottle for month longer which he gave me free of charge, other than it wasn't much he could do, the meds are expensive. I stop once i took the last pill, which he knows and is confident everything will go in my favor.